Altar of Storms is a US EST PVP server which opened on 05/18/06. It has close to a 1:1 activity ratio between Horde and Alliance in the evenings, with less than a minute queue times for Battlegrounds. Being a Medium/ Low population server, it has no wait to log into the game. [ The current progression list has been given its own page. ]

Horde guild <Epidemic> was the first guild to down a Burning Crusade raid boss on Altar of Storms, Attumen the Huntsman of Karazhan on 1/30/07. Later that day Alliance guild <Vertigo> stepped into Karazhan and downed Attumen the Huntsman marking the first Alliance progression of the expansion. <Epidemic> became the first AoS guild to complete a Burning Crusade raid instance (Karazhan), clearing it on 03/12/07. <Different Strokes> became the first alliance guild to clear a Burning Crusade raid instance (Karazhan), clearing it on 3/14/07 as well as getting the server first kill of Lady Vashj & Kael'thas, but would later disband. <Epidemic> became the first horde guild to clear 5/6 & 3/4 but disbanded before killing either Lady Vashj or Kael'thas, however they eventually reformed. Horde guild <Cynosure> was the first guild on the server to kill Illidan. <Bloodsky> achieved the server first Alliance Mount Hyjal clear on 01/28/08 as well as Alliance first Black Temple 7/9 clear, and the first and only Alliance Illidan kill on 3/31/2008.

These are a list of the first 10 players (assorted by faction) that have reached the new highest rank of Level 70. The first player to hit level 70 on this server was the Alliance player Kirios of the guild <Malicè> (1/20/2007)

DISCLAIMER: These rankings are based on user monitoring and word-of-mouth, so they might not be entirely accurate.

<p>Gladiator is a Title awarded to Arena participants who place in the top 0.5% of their Battlegroup at the end of a Season. Gladiators were also awarded a Swift Nether Drake. Titles are displayed before the character's name, as an indication of the character's achievements. Altar of Storms' Battlegroup is Nightfall (Forums).

From WowArmory.Com'sHall of Fame page: "The Hall of Fame recognizes the best teams of each Arena Ladder season – those teams who finished in the top 0.5% of their team bracket in each battlegroup. In addition to being permanently commemorated here for all to see, every team member who played in at least 20% of his or her team's total games also receives an armored Netherdrake mount and a title as trophies". Select the links to find who on Altar of Storms has made the Hall of Fame! Features all 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3, and 5 vs 5 winners, and their rankings.

The server has seen some tough times. The first four months are still remembered fondly by the oldtimers, with all the activity presented by reroll guilds competing for server firsts when Altar of Storms first opened. The population exploded to a "High" status very quickly. But with a cap on incoming transfers that lasted too long, and the lowbie alt that couldn't transfer their main characters here, players started looking elsewhere to transfer. By September and October 2006, the reroll guilds started transfering off. By late October, Altar of Storms' population was so low that it received the notorious label of a "Recommended" server. Since then, even though the population has rebounded, and progression is happening, because progression has happened at too slow rate a rate for many hardcore members of this realm, the old forum trolls have dubbed AoS a "Dead" server since September 2006.

In spite of the past history, new players to Warcraft, casual players, and hardcore players from servers in worse shape appear to believe the server is fine, using the lively forum discussion and entertaining forum PVP the forum trolls participate in as evidence. The early server struggles forged a close bond between the players. Former players who have transfered still lurk and post on the forums, swapping stories about that first summer when everything was new, or goading and joshing the new players about how no guild compares when giants such as <Hate Plow> and <Mindtrip> walked the realm. "Grats, DS!"

Ever since Patch 2.3 was released in November 2007 with Leveling Improvements many players have started re-rolling new characters, and experimenting with different classes, giving the low level maps -- especially the Alliance's Elwynn Forest and Westfall -- a wave of tremendous activity. Alliance players will get their first introduction to the opposite faction, the Horde, who are quite active in the Moonbrook section of Westfall. The Horde routinely run Deadmines, and put hits out on the Defias Messenger, The Defias Traitor, and any Alliance member who dares engage them in combat. Likewise, low-level Horde players are often visited by Alliance players who spontaneously organize raids on their Trade channel to the Crossroads via the Booty Bay ferry in Stranglethorn Vale and Ratchet. The Undead starting realms are always being invaded by Alliance members who raid Brill, sometimes taking potshots at the questgivers on their way to the Scarlet Monastery.

Regarding progression: Hordeside, Cynosure paved the way by killing Illidan just before Christmas 2007, and Bloodsky, Alliance-side, has killed Mother_Shahraz and is working their way to Illidan for the first kill Alliance side and the only guild currently in Hyjal and Black Temple.

Numerous casual guilds are having a blast simply kicking around in Karazhan, wiping on Zul'Aman, and dreaming of Gruul's_Lair. Like duelling? For the Alliance, go to Ironforge, and right in front of the bank, you'll always find people dueling, saying hello to their friends, then kick their butts and ribbing them about it, publically. For the Horde, outside Orgimarr is a popular destination for the serious duelist. Many a casual Orgrimarr raid of Alliance players have been smashed by them.

But all in all, Altar of Storms is a realm to see more world PvP than PvE. But, still you may catch a break and get a /wave by an ally instead.

For more information on the early history:
View these threads on Forums.Worldofwarcraft.Com / Altar of Storms --

World PVP does occur on Altar of Storms, and consists more than the random skirmishes while leveling up in Stranglethorn Vale or Tanaris, or questing near Halaa. It can be a dangerous place, not knowing if the player of the opposite faction is simply trying to grind out levels, or is looking for a bit of fun. Guilds have to stick together, don't you know. Now that you can level quicker, that lvl 30 up ahead just might have a lvl 70 main character, so it is best to be cautious. Many a victim of a ganking has voiced his or her outrage, only to be met with an unsympathetic ear. PVP simply happens. When doing your daily quests. When you are strolling along Stormwind. When you are in Orgrimmar. Who knows if a rogue is waiting behind you? Things can get a little ... tense.

Pre-Burning Crusade, the Altar of Storms WowWIKI was created, updated, and moderated by SideShowMel0329. He added the last bit of information on 19:36, 14 January 2007 before updating the entire site for the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade expansion pack, which was released on January 16th, 2007 in North America, Europe and Australia. You can find the old AoS WowWIKI pages archived:

For more infomation, a compilation exists for most Breaking News updates that were provided almost daily by SideShowMel0329 from May 2006 to January 2007. They have been archived by ManicMan11 on the January 2007 version of this site.

05/18/2006: New Realms by Tseric in Wow-News: "We are happy to announce the opening of two new realms: Altar of Storms, a PvP realm, and Uldaman, a PvE realm. These realms are located on our latest World of Warcraft site, which feature all new hardware. This will provide an opportunity, to new and old players alike, to begin fresh adventures in Azeroth!"

05/18/2006: <Mindtrip> hears about a new server, Altar of Storms (Mindtrip General Forums )

Some guilds are still around in other forms. Some are long gone. But their websites remain. Here they are... In case you are an AoS resident and wanted to track down your old friends and drag them back to this server.